It is known in the art to use gift cards for an increasing variety of events in which gifts are normally exchanged and for an increasing variety of products and services. For the recipient of gift cards, keeping track of the cards and tracking the balance of the stored value associated therewith has been arduous. For the retailer, issues such as fraud and security management have inhibited the success of gift cards. Moreover, as gift card sales increase and more consumers become anonymous, retailers are losing the ability to target the marketing at their real customers, e.g., recipients of gift cards. This may hinder merchants who might otherwise benefit from the tendency of gift card recipients to spend more money in the store than that which was loaded on the gift card. Additional problem issues include unused gift cards and breakage of gift cards. Although it is known in the art to utilize electronic gifting to manage the stored value conventionally associated with tangible gift cards, fraud, security management, marketing, and other issues remain of concern. What is needed in the art are systems and methods for electronic gifting that overcome the disadvantages and shortcomings of the prior art.